Types of Emergency Flashlights

Emergency flashlights come in a variety of shapes, sizes and can be used for many different settings like homes, companies, large factories etc. The size and weight of an emergency flashlight are crucial factors when selecting a suitable one based on your needs – after all, you don’t’ want to be holding a bulky and extremely heavy emergency flashlight when there’s no power outage. It’s a hassle and defeats the purpose of having a portable lighting source for emergency.

Emergency flashlights can be classified into below categories based on the size/ weight.

Key-ring Emergency Flashlights

Figure 4 2: Key-ring Emergency Flashlights

Key-ring emergency flashlights typically weigh less than one ounce and they can easily fit in your pocket. They usually take a while to emit strong enough light due to the delay in lighting up the LED bulb. The light from key-ring emergency flashlights is barely strong enough to light up your path.

Pocket Emergency Flashlights

Figure 4 3: Pocket Flashlights

Pocket emergency flashlights are larger than key-ring flashlights but can still fit your pocket or glove compartment. They have the ability to regulate voltage so the light stays bright even if there are fluctuations.

Glove Compartment Emergency Flashlights

Figure 4 3: Glove-Compartment Emergency Flashlights

As the name suggests, these are too big for your pocket but can easily fit into a glove compartment. They usually provide adjustable light levels.

Emergency Crank Flashlights

Figure 4 4: Emergency Crank Flashlights

The best part about using Emergency Crank Flashlights is that they are small enough to fit a glove compartment and they do not need any batteries. What’s more, they can even be used to charge cell phones. After a minute of cranking, they can usually run from half an hour up to an hour.

These are also known as windup flashlights and they are the perfect solution for a disaster preparation kit. However, they have their own pitfalls as well. First, most of them do not come with a lifetime warranty of tight weather seal. Secondly, the light from emergency crank flashlights begins to decline gradually after half an hour. Most importantly, these are not built from a durability perspective so you can never be sure when they might ditch you. Therefore, if you use a crank emergency flashlight, it is highly recommended that you keep a standby more durable emergency flashlight handy as well.

They are great to make emergency phone calls and on an average, three minutes of cranking can provide up to eight minutes of mobile phone usage time. These are readily available for purchase online on most leading vendors including Wal-Mart and Amazon.

Another variation of the emergency crank flashlights are the emergency shake flashlights. These recharge the internal battery upon vigorous shaking. They are not as popular as crank emergency flashlights because their light is not as strong enough.

Rechargeable Emergency Flashlights

Figure 4 6: Rechargeable Emergency Flashlights

The usage of rechargeable emergency flashlights is limited to circumstances where a power outlet is handy for recharging the batteries (e.g. in office and companies) or where solar charging is available.

Tactical Emergency Flashlights

Figure 4 7: Tactical Emergency Flashlight

Tactical Emergency Flashlights are a recent technological innovation and are especially suited for extreme natural conditions and hazardous paths. They work on the principle of emitting light ahead or temporarily blinding an attacker. The brightness level can be adjusted to low or high as per requirement. They are mostly used by defense forces, police and professional hunters. They are very bright and can be hazardous to children.